


When On-Again Off-Again Finally Becomes Permanent

by lasairfhiona



Category: CSI: Miami
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-16
Updated: 2013-08-16
Packaged: 2017-12-23 15:45:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/928280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasairfhiona/pseuds/lasairfhiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Horatio and Rick have an on-again, off-again relationship, but that doesn't stop him from falling for someone else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When On-Again Off-Again Finally Becomes Permanent

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TigerLily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigerLily/gifts).



**Past**

_"Hey Red, how ya doing?"_

"Hey... Not bad, I guess," Horatio smiled when he heard Rick's voice. It was just what he needed after the day he'd had.

_"Today's Cardoza's last day, isn't it? He off to be some hotshot cop in the City of Angels?"_

"Yeah," he answered with a sigh.

_"How did it go?"_

"As we'll as could be expected. I'm going to miss him. He is a good investigator and a good friend."

_"You should have bedded him like I encouraged you too. He was a mighty fine man."_

"To what benefit? To make today harder? Make me suffer more? No thank you. He wasn't like us. And he definitely wasn't into guys," Horatio stated as he poured himself a glass of scotch and went to sit on his balcony to watch the people on the beach.

_"Now don't get your panties in a twist. You are there. I'm here and I was just trying to live vicariously through your sex life. You know I don't have one of my own."_

"That's your own damn fault. If you'd actually go out and meet people," he told Rick, repeating an argument they had on a regular basis.

_"I do go out. I go to the pub once a week. Shoot pool. Have a few beers."_

"The pub doesn't count. The hags are the biggest cockblockers around especially if they don't like the interest you're getting," Horatio said with a smile, they really were that bad but they had also saved both he and Rick from some issues with people just looking to notch their bedposts or have something on an NYPD officer.

_"Can't help it. What's the saying? Once you've gone redhead you don't go back."_

"I believe the saying is black. And seriously Rick, you need to get a life. You can't keep waiting for me." Horatio took a drink of his scotch and felt the warm burn as it went down. This was another argument that had many times over the years.

_"Jesus, fuck, Horatio. You've gotten too serious in your old age. Can't you take a joke anymore? Just because I'm not screwing every bimbo that walks past of either sex, doesn't mean I'm not getting any, the Trojan in my wallet is current and not expired. What about the one in yours?"_

"Fuck you Rick, get your ass to Miami and find out," he challenged knowing Rick wouldn't be able to just up and come to Miami.

_"I'm at the beach house waiting on you? Where the hell are you?"_

Horatio laughed. Rick had gotten one up on him. "Well played, you bastard," he said with a laugh. He would never admit to Rick that the condom in his wallet was outdated and worn. He really hadn't been into getting involved with anyone in a long time. What he had with Rick was good when they were lucky enough to be together.

*&*

**Present**

Horatio stood on the catwalk looking down over the labs. Well one lab in particular. Watching Speed in his ever efficient way of working was actually calming for him. The trace expert worked with no unnecessary moves, each one organized and calculated aimed at getting the job done as efficiently as possible with the greatest gain for collecting evidence. And Horatio needed a little calming right now. He'd had yet another run in with Rick. This one was in the hall of the lab at the top of their voices and had him wondering how they had twenty years of friendship and on again off again lovers behind them. Even with the calming influence of watching Speed work all he still really wanted to do was rip the hideous tie Rick was wearing off his neck and use it to strangle him. Or use it to tie him up and fuck him raw, but as much as he liked their arguments as foreplay, this time things had hit to too close to home so he wasn't allowing himself that train of thought.

He didn't know how long he stood there watching Speed. He just knew his anger at Rick was diminishing slightly as he knew it finally would. Part of him wanted to send Rick a text to apologise for the bullshit they had been through lately and tell Rick to meet him at the beach house. Another part of him wanted to go down as he saw Speed wrapping up his day and ask Speed to dinner even though he'd also heard through the grapevine that Speed was serious about someone. His feelings for his friend and co-worker had been growing and he'd had almost as tough a job dealing with them as he had dealing with his past with Rick lately.

Silently slapping a hand to the railing, he turned and headed out himself. He chose neither and headed for home. The beach outside his South Beach home would have to do for now. At least there he could people watch and think about what ifs.

*&*

"Are you sure this is wise?"

"Trust me Tim. I know Horatio and I know this is a good idea."

"Just because the two of you have been friends since high school and lovers a majority of that time, doesn't mean he's going to want me as a part of that."

"Trust me. He's going to be on the beach outside his house, in that ratty Adirondack chair of his with a scotch in one hand and probably a cigar in the other, watching the people go past and wondering why he doesn't have a relationship as simple as the young twinks who live next door and fuck every morning on their balcony."

"He wants a relationship like a couple of young kids? Not what I would have pictured for H."

"No but compared to thirty years of on again off again, or unrequited lust. That's simple and easy. What few people understand about Horatio is that he craves the stability of a real relationship. Dinner at eight. Walks on the beach holding hands. Cuddled up with popcorn watching cheesy movies and rainy days off spent either in bed reading or cooking and drinking wine."

"Sounds good to me, Rick."

"Me too which is why we are doing this. For each other and for him."

"So I have to know, before I agree to this. What about the job? It's not like your job isn't to ride Horatio and my asses."

"It'll work out Tim. Horatio and I have done this before."

"If you say so."

"I do. Now go change and pack a bag. I happen to know that the three of us have a three day weekend and I have every intention of making it to the beach house and having plenty of sex on the beach, in the ocean, and in that huge bed of Horatio's that looks out over the water."

*&*

Rick walked up behind Horatio and set his hands on the red head's shoulders.

"Good way to get yourself shot Rick," Horatio said as he drained the last swallow from his triple scotch. He wasn't about to give away that it was his second, or was it third, glass.

"Not when I know you heard the mustang drive up. And if the sound of the engine didn't do it for you the music did."

"Only you would play *that* music at that volume," Horatio said, shaking his head as he looked back at Rick, taking in the worn t-shirt and soft faded jeans. "Wearing your 'fuck me' clothes Rick? Aren't you aiming that at the wrong person? I thought you had a new toy and he wasn't sharing?"

Rick motioned Speed to come closer and respond to Horatio's statement. 

"I have no intention of sharing him with anyone but you," Speed said kneeling next to Horatio, wrapping a hand around behind his neck and pulling the red head down for a kiss before he had a chance to react.

"What the fuck?" Horatio exclaimed pushing Speed away.

"Been that long since you were seduced that you've forgotten how it worked?" Rick said running a hand through Horatio's thick red hair.

"That's what this is? A seduction? Well I don't need a pity fuck so take it someplace else if you want a little kink. Fuck you both," Horatio said standing up with a slight sway and tried to push past Speed's bulk.

"Definitely not a pity fuck," Speed said as he steadied Horatio before leaning close and whispering in Horatio's ear between nibbles. "I've wanted you for a long time, was just too chicken to reach out and take it until Rick said it was possible," he finished with a swipe of his tongue along the outer rim of Horatio's ear.

Horatio restrained a whimper as Rick came up behind him and pressed his semi-hard cock against his ass. "I want to watch you come apart while Tim expertly fucks you with his beautiful cock," Rick whispered in Horatio's other ear giving it a few hard nips and smiling as this time Horatio didn't suppress his moans. "And then I'm going to straddle you and sink down on that cock of yours and let you watch as I ride you."

Speed stepped back and held out his hand. "Join us. Not for a night of some fun, but really join us for as long as we work, for forever," Speed asked seriously, watching the emotions play out against Horatio's face while Rick held him and whispered words of encouragement in Horatio's ear.

Horatio had known for years, even before Rick came to Miami that his friend and lover wanted more permanence but he'd never taken that step and he knew in his heart the arguments in the department were more vitriol because of the lack of permanence to their relationship. But it was Speed's open desire that spurred him on to reach out and take the younger man's hand and take a chance to say, "Yes."

*&*

Horatio lay with his head on Rick's chest lazily drawing lines up and down and around.

"Happy, Red?" Rick asked as he reached up and ran his hands though Horatio's hair.

"You know I am," Horatio answered. "How did you know about my feelings for Tim? We haven't exactly been sharing lately."

"It wasn't me? It was Tim. I told him about us when we got together and he wondered how it worked when he could see your feeling for him in those unguarded moments. I explained about us and he obviously started planning."

"I always knew he was a smart man. Smart enough to see how things needed to be. To bring the three of us together and bring you and I back together," Horatio said dipping his chin so Rick couldn't see his face.

Rick rolled Horatio over, knowing there was more than one way to beat a reluctant red head. "He is definitely smarter than the both of us. And for some stupid reason he actually loves both of our sorry asses. Now what do you say we go find our young man before he tries to swim back to Miami, or Naples or somewhere and see how buoyant we are."

Horatio laughed for the first time in a long time in pure joy and allowed Rick to pull him from the bed and padded naked behind him as they walked though the house and out to find Tim lounging on the beach, also buck naked. 

"I wondered how long it would take you two to come looking for me," Tim said as they joined him on the extra wide lounger.

"Too long," Horatio said leaning over to kiss Tim, still marvelling at the fact he could.

"Understatement Red," Rick said as he rocked up against Horatio. 

"Leave him alone Rick, he's with us now, and I plan on keeping him," Tim said as he pulled Horatio close for a kiss.

Horatio moaned into the kiss, as Rick ran his hands over him making sure to hit all his spots to turn his arousal up another notch. He'd never dreamed he could be this happy or he could have everything he wanted, but here he was at the cusp of something that could last forever.


End file.
